Der Mann Im Mond: Oder Der Zug Des Herzens Ist Des Schicksals Stimme, Nebst Der Kontrovers-Predigt Über H. Clauren Und Den Mann Im Mond

On a stormy November night in the provincial town of Freilingen, the local museum blazes with light for a royal ball. Everyone has come to see Ida, the president's daughter, returned from years away and more captivating than ever. But as the waltzes swell and champagne flows, Ida's attentionFixates on a mysterious stranger standing apart from the crowd: Emile, the Comte de Martiniz, a foreign gentleman whose brooding intensity hints at secrets both dark and romantic. What begins as a glittering social comedy of manners gradually deepens into something more unsettling, as Hauff explores the terrifying possibility that love is not a choice but a force acting through us, as inevitable and impersonal as the moon's pull on the tides. This early work by the German Romantic master also includes his fiery "Controversy Sermon" attacking the popular novelist H. Clauren, making this a fascinating artifact of early 19th-century literary politics alongside its haunting tale of passion and predestination.